Examples of premise in a Sentence

Noun

Called behavioral ecology, it starts from the premise that social and environmental forces select for various behaviors that optimize people's fitness in a given environment. Different environment, different behaviors—and different human "natures."— Sharon Begley, Newsweek, 29 June 2009Although the Voting Rights Act served, in some measure, to formalize the notion of racial representation, its consequences undermined its premise—that a transparency of interests existed between the representative and the represented.— Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New Yorker, 24 Oct. 1994Thirty years ago the modesty of the general expectation was still consistent with the original American premise of self-government.— Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, November 1992
They were asked to leave the premises.
The company leases part of the premises to smaller businesses.
The premises were searched by the police.
He disagreed with her premise.
the basic premises of the argument
a theory based on the simple premise that what goes up must come down

Verb

Niebuhr … adhered to a form of liberalism more premised on a realistic assessment of human nature than Rauschenbusch's naïve progressivism was.— Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review, 21 Oct. 2007Fears of a nuclear holocaust were fueled by President Nixon's "madman" theory of diplomacy. The madman theory was premised on the assumption that if the Soviets thought that Nixon was crazy enough to drop the bomb, they would leave us alone.— Will Manley, Booklist, 1 & 15 June 2006
let us premise certain things, such as every person's need for love, before beginning our line of reasoning

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'premise.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of premise

History and Etymology for premise

Noun and Verb

in sense 1, from Middle English premisse, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin praemissa, from Latin, feminine of praemissus, past participle of praemittere to place ahead, from prae- pre- + mittere to send; in other senses, from Middle English premisses, from Medieval Latin praemissa, from Latin, neuter plural of praemissus